


The Mono Fic

by jjjjuicy



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Camping, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, F/M, Georgie Denbrough Lives, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Not Beta Read, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Sharing a Room, Sick Character, Soft Richie Tozier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:33:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23011042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjjuicy/pseuds/jjjjuicy
Summary: Mononucleosis.Eddie wants to scream into his pillow.Eddie has fucking mono.Eddie finally worked up the courage to kiss Richie, and then they both got fucking mono.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh (minor), Eddie Kaspbrak & Stanley Uris, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Mike Hanlon & Eddie Kaspbrak
Comments: 8
Kudos: 132





	The Mono Fic

**Author's Note:**

> I thought of this fic prompt a while back and thought it would be fun to write. I didn't proofread this at all, so I'm sorry if it sucks. Also, you might see this fic prompt again with niiiiix, who wanted to write it, too!

The outside air is cold, and strikingly so, but the inside of Eddie’s sleeping bag is so warm that the place where his two thighs are touching have gathered enough sweat between them that when Eddie runs his fingers against it, he feels like he’s touching a slug. The thought of that makes him shiver despite the heat, accompanied by the thought of the worm Richie had picked up with his two fingers and thrown at Eddie.

That same Richie is behind him right now, in his own sleeping bag. They’re back to back in a cold tent, and Eddie’s wide awake because of it. This is always how they sleep every sleepover- back to back, silent, and unmoving. Well, Eddie stays unmoving- Richie likes to kick and squirm and sometimes he ends up wrapped around Eddie, but they always start not facing each other and never talk about it if they end up any other way. Eddie knows that a tent over, Ben and Beverly are probably snuggled up close to each other and melting because of it, but neither of them care at all. 

The silence in the tent is eerie, because almost every moment with the Losers is loud. Eddie is usually the one to fall asleep first at a sleepover- not be the last. He listens to the chirp of bugs outside of the tent (and probably a few inside, too) and tries to will himself to fall asleep.

It doesn’t work.

Eddie’s noticed that Richie usually mumbles a few things at sleepovers on the rare occasion Richie ends up crashing first. Eddie assumes its because the boy never shuts up and likes to annoy him in every possible way. Even if Eddie finds it especially endearing. 

However, tonight Richie’s been quiet.

Eddie just lays there for a while, staring into the blackness. He can see the slight blueness of the tent through the dark, but nothing much else; the only light was the fire, but the embers had died out an hour ago.

There’s a shuffling noise behind Eddie, and it sounds like a struggle. It goes on a little too long to just be a movement made in sleep, so Eddie decides to turn over in his sleeping bag. He’s met with Richie, eyes opened and looking at him. Neither of them say anything- they just stare for a while.

“We have school tomorrow.” Richie finally says.

“No, we don’t. Tomorrow’s Sunday.” Eddie counters.

“It’s past twelve AM, isn’t it? So today is Sunday, and tomorrow is Monday, so we have school tomorrow.”

“I- I guess. Okay, Richie. Go to sleep.”

“Okay.”

Neither of them close their eyes.

“It’s hot in my sleeping bag. There might be a puddle in here, from my sweat. It’s really gross. And unsanitary. I need to shower tomorrow.” Eddie pauses. “Today.” He amends, with a sigh. He takes his left hand out of the bag and rests it in the relatively same place it was when it was inside of it.

Richie doesn’t respond, instead settling for doing the same. Eddie realizes, with a shaky breath, that the tent is very small, and there isn’t much room between their hands. This thought compels him to move his hand closer, just a bit. There’s no way that Richie doesn’t see it- they both have their eyes wide open.

Richie’s hand moves, too. Just the smallest bit.

Eddie moves his, and then steals a glance at them to see how close they are- a few inches apart. So close, yet not close enough.

The second Eddie’s eyes go back up to meet Richie’s, he feels the pressure of fingertips against his- Richie’s fingertips against his- and hazily thinks _What’s happening?_ before he sucks in a breath and laces his fingers into Richie’s. For a moment, he expects him to pull away. Instead, Eddie is met with a reassuring squeeze, and, satisfied, he closes his eyes.

Not very long passes. “Are you awake?” Richie asks.

Eddie opens his eyes. “Ye-”

Richie kisses him. It’s fast, and he pulls away before Eddie can close his eyes again, or complain about how Richie’s going to get him sick, or how neither of them had brushed their teeth recently and Richie didn’t even brush his teeth after they ate s’mores around the campfire. The second Richie pulls back, Eddie stares at him, bewildered, unsure what to say. They’re two hesitant boys in a blue tent in the middle of the night in the middle of the wood and Richie just kissed him and he has no idea what to say. Rather than speaking, Eddie pulls his fingers out of Richie’s grip and places them on his shoulder before returning the kiss, because although Eddie has no idea what’s happening, he’s sure he doesn’t want it to stop.

Eddie moves closer to Richie and feels his skin slide against the material of the sleeping bag easily. Richie’s free hand grips just about Eddie’s elbow in an awkward tangle of limbs, and they stay like that for a while, mouths pressed up against each other and moving gently with their tongues clumsily trying to replicate what they’ve seen in TV shows and movies.

When they finally stop after an unknown amount of time, they smile at each other, and go to sleep with their fingers intertwined.

____________________

The next morning, they slip out of their sleeping bags when the sun seeps through the thin fabric of the tent, light spilling into their eyelids and poking them awake. The boys don’t talk much except for saying good morning, and then Eddie tells Richie that he’s going to go brush his teeth and he’ll be right back.

“Brush your teeth? We’re in the middle of the woods.”

Eddie digs through his back and pulls out a canister of water, toothpaste, and a plastic bag that contains another plastic bag that contains Eddie’s toothbrush with a travel cap over the bristles. “I’ve come prepared. We had s’mores last night and I didn’t brush my teeth, and then we-” Eddie cuts himself off and looks at Richie for a second, wide eyed. “I just really need to brush my teeth.”

“O…kay.”

“Right.”

Eddie nods once and then breaks out of the tent like Richie has the plague, taking quick breaths through his nose and stumbling to the edge of the clearing where he can spit when he needs to. Mike is there, too. He gives him a strange look before approaching.

“Sleep well?” He asks.

“Yeah, you?” Eddie responds. “Hold this.” He puts his water canister in Mike’s hands as he puts his toothpaste on the brush. “Just pour some onto here- yeah, thanks.” And then starts to brush his teeth.

“I was fine, but I’ve been talking to Bill. We’ve been up an hour. I basically passed out, but Stan was up texting Patty and he kept laughing and kept Bill up all night.” Mike looks over his shoulder to their tent. “I hope he went back to sleep.”

“There was three people in your tent. It had to be _boiling_. I’m not even in the tent anymore and I’m still sweating.” Eddie says after spitting into the grass. He begins to put away his toothbrush in the three layers of protection again- first, the travel cap, then the first plastic bag, and then the final plastic bag.

“Not that hot. It’s pretty cool outside.”

Eddie shrugs. “Maybe it’s just Richie’s disgusting body heat. I was overheating the whole time.”

“Maybe you’re sick.”

“Stop it. That’s not funny.”

“I’m serious!”

“Mike! _Mike.”_

Mike shrugs as if to say _‘what can you do?’_ And then walks off with a teasing grin on his stupid, smug face. Eddie flips him off before reentering his tent to find Richie had already rolled up and put away his sleeping bag for him.

“Thanks. That always sucks. I can never fit it in the bag.”

“You gotta roll it hamburger, not hot dog.”

“You really think I tried to roll up a sleeping bag sideways and then stuffed it in a bag? I’m not stupid. I’m not, _you.”_

“Oh, Eds. You’ve hurt me, really, you have. I think I may cry.”

“Shut up, Trashmouth.” Eddie checks his watch- it’s big and clunky and he hates it but his mom wouldn’t let him go camping unless he wore it- and sees that it’s almost eight, which means Zack Denbrough should be back to pick them all up soon. Eddie needs to wake everyone up, then. Whenever anyone has a sleepover at the Denbrough house, if they’re not awake by the time they have to be, they’re unceremoniously woken up by an overexcite and overhyped Georgie, which isn’t the worst way to wake up, all things considered.

“Want to help me wake up the others?”

“I’m exhausted.” Richie replies, laying back onto the floor of the tent. With no sleeping bags, its basically just a layer of plastic separating him from the ground, so there’s no way it’s comfortable, but Richie closes his eyes anyway. “Like, bone-deep tired.”

“Crowded dreams?” Eddie asks, raising an eyebrow, then immediately regretting speaking.

Richie opens one eye and grins. “Bazinga.” He says cheekily, but his usual pizzazz isn’t there. He must be really tired, and the thought of it actually being from dreams about _Eddie_ make him feel all funny inside, so he elects to ignore it in favor of going to wake up Ben and Beverly.

____________________

Richie leans his head on Eddie’s shoulder on the car ride. It’s forty-five minutes from the camping grounds back to Richie’s house, so it’s enough time for a nap.

“You’re warm, Eddie.” He mumbles before dozing off. “Really warm.”

“Uh, thank you?”

“Like a furnace.”

Eddie looks at Richie on his shoulder, eyes closed and mouth in a soft smile, and his head feels all loopy, like he’s spinning.

____________________

Eddie’s body aches.

He doesn’t know why.

Some part of him thinks it’s because he misses Richie so much that his body is showing withdrawal symptoms- it’s all there. The headache, the sore body, the way he feels like if he stands up he might pass out.

Eddie blinks at the ceiling a few times, and then sits up rather quickly. He rummages through his bedside drawer until he finds hid thermometer his Mom keeps there and sticks it in his mouth, waiting for the beep. When it comes- a 102.3° and Eddie realize why he’s felt so loopy.

Shit. Obviously staying out in the woods would get him sick. Now he’ll have to tell his mom, and she’ll totally freak out, so Eddie will never be allowed to hang out with the Losers ever again. Great. Just great.

____________________

Mononucleosis.

Eddie wants to scream into his pillow.

Eddie has fucking _mono._

“Baby-bear, have some Tylenol. Take two. Here’s a glass of water, baby-bear. Did you share a water bottle while camping? With that Beverly girl, wasn’t it? Just the kind of girl to have mono. See, baby? This is why I don’t want you hanging out with her. It’s to protect you. It’s not random. See, Eddie-bear?”

“Mom. Stop talking. I have a headache.” Eddie says, but takes the cold glass of water and the two Tylenol just the same. He’s a pro at swallowing pills by now, so he’s able to put both in his mouth and take them at the same time. This is something Sonia hates, but she presses her lips together and says nothing because she knows that if she complains, Eddie won’t take any medicine next time she asks.

“Call me if you need anything, baby. Your phone is right there, and I have mine on me. I’m going to go clean the whole house. Don’t want to spread that girl’s filth all around.”

“Don’t talk about Beverly like that.”

“She gave you _mono,_ Eddie-bear.”

“Maybe it wasn’t her!”

Sonia blinks at him. “Of course it was.” She says, and then leaves and shuts the door.

Eddie stares at the closed door for about a minute, caught in a stare, before tears his eyes off and proceeds to gulp the entirety of the water and flopping back onto his bed. He doesn’t even bother to put the cup down on the counter, settling for it just rolling around on his bed. It rolls down the bed from the impression his body made and rests next to his rib cage.

He’ll be content to stay like this for a while- he’s had to do it while not actually sick, but luckily, this time, he’s doing this for a reason. Being sick in bed a lot means Eddie’s gotten very good at it. He can think and think for hours and entertain himself like that, which is what he had to do before his mom finally cave on his sixteenth birthday and bought him a phone. Nowadays, when he’s sick, he could probably just text one of the Losers, but he doesn’t really feel like it.

He feels like sleeping, so he does.

He wakes up about an hour later in the same position- his mouth is open and super dry, and the cup is still against his side. The only difference is that his door is now open and Stan’s standing at the doorway.

“Hiya, Eddie.”

“Hi, Stan.”

“You look good.”

“I don’t need a mirror to know you’re a dirty liar.”

“You caught me.” Stan laughs and sits at the foot of Eddie’s bed. “Your mom let me in. She said your sick and only agreed to let me grace your presence when I promised that I wouldn’t touch you or breathe near you or look at you.”

“Where’s your hazmat suit?” Eddie teases.

“I’m wearing it, can’t you tell?’ Stan grins again and reaches out next to Eddie, grabbing the glass. “Refill?”

“Please. My tongue’s like cotton, it’s so dry.”

Stan leaves and comes back a few minutes later, but this time, with a wailing Sonia in tow. He was barely back in the room when-

“Eddieeee, don’t driiink that!” She wails, grabbing the water from him. “You’re already sick enough! What if he took a sip before he gave it to you and got you _more_ sick?”

“I didn’t.” Stan says blandly.

Sonia ignores him, instead still focusing on Eddie. “You already have mono, do you want strep throat, too? I’ll get you a fresh, clean, cup.” Sonia scurries out and as soon as she does, Stan jumps up onto Eddie’s bed.

“Holy shit! You kissed Richie!” He whisper-shouts, making sure Sonia won’t hear but still conveying his excitement.

“What! No, I didn’t!”

“You did! You have mono!”

Eddie pauses. “Oh my god. Don’t tell me-”

“Yup!” Stan beams. “Richie does too.”

“This is the worst possible way for you to find out. Never, ever did I imagine-”

Stan guffaws. “I’m never going to let you two live this down. I’m going to tell the rest of the Losers. This is comedic gold.” He pokes Eddie rather harshly with the grin still splitting his face. “Hey, Eddie, you’re a trash mouth!”


End file.
